I only got two reviews last chapter *pouts*. I'm a little upset by that, but I'll let it pass this once. I'm giving you a treat - two chapters in one week. Please, reward me with reviews.
Skullduck: Stop begging. It's kind of pathetic.
Me: Fine. Here's chapter two, complete with Arty/Holly bickering and a Holly/Butler bonding session. Enjoy.


The medics ran into the IC unit armed with sedative patches. They stuck several to Grub, darting in just close enough to touch him before scampering away out of range again. The elf's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed on top of his brother. The medics waited a heartbeat to make sure he really was asleep, then dragged him back into his bed and reattached the drip. Trouble was lying prone on the floor, not quite unconscious but not coherent either. The doctor in charge leant over him, examining his shoulder. There was a perfect ring of teeth-marks, with blood pooling in each indent. The sprite backed away quickly as Trouble groaned and opened his eyes. He gestured for his helpers to sedate the semi-conscious Commander. He'd been bitten. He was infected.

"Gods help us" muttered the sprite, helping to haul Trouble onto the last empty bed in IC. They couldn't afford for any more incidents like this one to occur. They were fresh out of beds and, unless something drastic happened soon, fresh out of luck. Grub shouldn't have been at the attacking-people stage yet, he'd barely been infected for seven hours. The disease was progressing more rapidly than ever before, which meant that all the fairies in this room had months – maybe just days – to live.


Artemis had left the kitchen for the isolation of his study. He sat cross-legged on the mat and attempted to meditate. He didn't get very far, because Holly chose to follow him into the room.

"We don't have time for this, Artemis."

He opened one eye, irritated.

"And why not? You said yourself that they can live for a decade with the illness."

"I have almost ninety fairies in the IC unit, Fowl! If anyone else falls ill, there is nowhere for them to go. I need a cure, yesterday!"

"You are asking me to do something that has never been accomplished before, with precious little knowledge of the actual mechanisms of the virus. Even for me, Captain, that is not easy. Now, would you please leave? Give me a little peace?"

"It's Commander" she snapped, storming out of the study. Artemis shook his head and closed both eyes. She could be so temperamental sometimes. He understood why she was tightly wound right now, but did she really have to take it out on him? Especially as she was asking for his help. You'd think she could be a little bit more civil.

Like you were to her, when you lied about your mother's illness? his conscience asked him. He told it to shut up. He had apologised for that. She had forgiven him.

Why though? You don't deserve it.

He shook his head to remove such thoughts, and focussed solely on the task at hand. Maybe if he could do this for her, his conscience would leave him alone. And he and Holly could get back to being friends, rather than the somewhat frosty place they seemed to be at currently.


The house was quiet. Too quiet. Butler didn't like it. With both Holly and Artemis under one roof, there should have been some sort of noise, whether it be discussion of tactics, friendly banter or arguments. He left the kitchen to look at the cameras and walked straight into Holly, knocking her to the floor. He leant down and pulled her to her feet easily.

"Sorry, Commander."

She waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

Butler crouched down to her level and looked her in the eye.

"You don't sound it."

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to get her emotions under control. She was biting the inside of her cheek, Butler noticed. She was upset.

"What did Artemis do now?" he asked quietly. Her eyes shot open.

"How did you...?"

"Call it instinct. I've known Artemis a long time, Commander. He has a way of getting under people's skin without realising it."

"One way of putting it" Holly muttered. Butler put one massive hand on her shoulder.

"If you need to talk, Commander, I'm here. I'm good at keeping secrets."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. Butler waited a few heartbeats, then removed his hand and stood.

"I'd better go and check on Artemis."

"Don't bother. He's meditating. He'll just send you away" she said scornfully. Butler sympathised with her. Artemis treated everyone like they were disposable when he was distracted. Butler supposed it was a response from his upbringing.

"Commander..."

"Call me Holly" she corrected him. "Trouble's the Commander. I'm just a stand-in whilst he's on leave."

"Holly. Artemis doesn't realise how he's acting sometimes."

"That's no excuse. How do you put up with him when he's like that, Butler?"

"I work out. It's great stress-relief. Oh, and Holly? Call me Dom."

"Dom?"

"Domovoi."

Her communicator rang, distracting the two from their first non-emergency related conversation. She pulled it from her belt and answered it curtly. Butler watched her reaction as the person on the other end spoke rapidly in gnomish. From the tone, he thought it was probably Foaly. It didn't look like he was imparting good news. Holly's complexion paled rapidly, and her eyes widened. He doubted highly that she was actually seeing him, however. She muttered a reply into the mouthpiece and snapped the contraption shut, looking vaguely shell-shocked. Butler spoke to her, concern lacing his voice.

"Holly?"

She shook herself out of her trance. She seemed to have forgotten that Butler was there.

"Umm, I've got to go."

She pushed past him without any further explanation, grabbed her wings from the table and flew out of the kitchen window, shielding as she went. He stared after her for a few seconds, then traipsed upstairs to find Artemis.

This was the first time in three months that Mrs Fowl had willingly left him alone in the house. She, Artemis senior and the twins had gone to Paris for the weekend. They were lucky that the emergency had fallen in this time frame. It was almost as if fate was on their side for once.

The study door was closed. Butler didn't knock. Holly was right, Artemis would send him away. Instead he went to the camera bank and checked the one in the study. Artemis wasn't on the rug, as he had expected. The boy was leaning against the computer desk, massaging his temples. He looked pained. Then he walked to the door, opened it, and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. Butler heard him walk past the camera booth, calling for Holly.

"She left, Artemis."

The boy turned around at Butler's voice, questions in his eyes.

"She left? Why?"

Butler was tempted to bring up the boy's callous behaviour, but didn't.

"She got a call from Foaly, then she just took off."

Artemis nodded. He twisted the ring on his middle finger so it was facing his palm, then closed his fingers around it. He pressed a couple of buttons and held it up to his face. It rang a few times before Holly answered. She didn't allow him to speak, cutting him off before he could do more than utter her name.

"Not now Artemis. I have bigger problems."

There was a buzzing noise as she cut the connection. Artemis lowered his hand slowly. No matter how annoyed Holly was at him, she'd never reacted like that before.

"Sir? Is everything alright?"

"No, Butler. I can't do more than speculate about this virus without a sample. But apparently Holly isn't talking to me, so I can't ask her for one."

"Perhaps you should call Foaly and ask?"

Artemis nodded and returned to his study. This would be easier done over the computer. Besides, hacking normally took his mind off other things. Like the hurt feeling in his chest that Holly's rebuff had caused.


Holly streaked through the sky, urging her wings to go ever faster. She was breaking the rules, going this fast, but she didn't much care. Besides, she was the Commander. Who was going to discipline her?

She made it to Tara in record time, and swooped straight into the shuttle she'd caught up here. For once, the terminal was deserted. Everyone had been evacuated to Atlantis just before the blast walls had lowered.

Her communicator rang as she was strapping herself in. She ignored it for several seconds, finally bringing it to her ear. She knew who it was, and had no inclination to talk to him right then.

"Not now Artemis. I have bigger problems" she barked into the phone, then she shut it off and clipped it back to her belt. She had to get belowground, now.

Half an hour later, after a journey that would have terrified even the most kamikaze pilot, Holly was back in Haven. Foaly had opened the E1 channel, then closed it again right behind her. She burst into the Ops booth seconds after she'd landed, demanding information. Foaly didn't make a sarcastic response for once, pointing out exactly how grave the situation was. He had the video feed from the IC unit up on the screen. Right in the centre, drawing Holly's gaze like a magnet, was Trouble. He was still being hooked up to various tubes, even though the attack had been almost two hours ago. It had taken this long to get all the various bits and pieces shipped over from Atlantis. Haven General Hospital was out of supplies. Thanks to the magic doing much of their job for then, they only had the facilities to deal with eighty patients at any one time, and now they were six over the limit. All in one unit, too. Anyone who got ill from now on, stayed ill.

Holly felt panic clawing at her throat. All the way down here, she'd been in a state of dread, but it had been somehow buffered. What she was feeling now, this was real fear. How were they going to cope without Trouble? The LEP was losing Commanders at a terrifying rate; two down in the last five years. Holly shook her head, banishing those thoughts from her head. Trouble wasn't gone – yet. They needed that cure, and fast.

"...Artemis coming through for us?" Foaly asked. Holly blinked and turned to look at him. She'd missed most of what he'd just said. He repeated himself.

"Is Artemis working on some sort of cure? Did you explain things to him?"

"I don't know, Foaly. I don't know if he can do it. He's only human, after all. If you and Koboi can't manage, what chance does he stand?"

Foaly trotted over and enveloped Holly in a hug. She embraced him back, burying her face in his chest and allowing the tears to trickle down her face. They stood like that for several minutes, until Holly pulled herself together. Foaly released her and she wiped at her cheeks.

"It's gonna be ok, Holls. Fowl's come through for us before, and he'll do it again."

Foaly wasn't certain of that, but he didn't think this was the best time to say so. Holly nodded at his words.

"Yeah, you're right. Artemis is the smartest person I know, if anyone can do it, he can."

Foaly whinnied in mock hurt. Holly smiled at him.

"He's the smartest human, I meant."

Foaly pouted, but decided that she was right. She turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To the hospital."

"They won't let you in, Holls. Since the incident, they've stopped all visitors."

"I'm not visiting. Artemis may be a genius, but he told me himself that he knows nothing about the way the virus works. I thought that if he had a sample, he could work better."

Foaly nodded.

"I'll patch your request through the hospital computers. They should let you in."


Artemis sat at the computer, staring at the error messages flashing across the screen. He couldn't get through to the LEP computers. Either Foaly had tightened his security a ridiculous amount, or all communications with the surface had been cut off. This, if the virus was as bad as Holly claimed, was entirely plausible. Foaly would have opened the channels to call her, then closed them again as she got back to Haven.

Artemis resisted the urge to slap the keyboard, and instead compiled a list of everything he knew about the virus. It wasn't much. He stared at the pitifully short list, then shut the computer down. This wasn't helping.


Holly stared at the sprite who was the chief medic, caressing her buzz baton lovingly. He swallowed and backed down.

"Alright, Commander Short, you can go in. But you are not to touch the patients."

"Fine."

The elfin doctor who'd earlier told Trouble that he could go in was volunteered to go in with her. Foaly had asked the hospital if Holly could get a couple of blood samples to take to Artemis, and the hospital had agreed reluctantly, on the condition that the blood was transported in unbreakable containers. They were a recent patent (Foaly's, obviously). Holly had swiped some from the countertop in the Ops Booth on her way over.

The doctor was not happy to be going into the room with the infected patients. Holly handed him the containers and pushed him in ahead of her. She had no time for pep talks, not today. The doctor pulled a needle from his pocket and gingerly drew a vial of blood from Skylar Peat. The actress lay completely still, chest barely moving. Since the attack on Trouble earlier, they'd upped the strength of the sedative. It wouldn't do any permanent damage, but neither would they be waking up any time in the next week.

Holly left him to it and wondered to Trouble's side. There was still a pretty pixie nurse attaching tubes to Trouble's wrist. Holly smiled at her, then looked down at her friend's face. He was pale, but otherwise didn't look ill. There was a swathe of bandages on his left shoulder. Holly stopped herself before she touched them. She didn't want to risk anything happening. The nurse clipped the catheter that would carry sim-blood onto the device on his wrist, then left. The elfin doctor came over to Holly, three containers half-filled with blood. He handed them to her, then leant over Trouble to fill the last one. Trouble coughed. The elf leapt back, knocking Holly over. She fell into the stand holding the sedative and blood bags for Trouble, and sent it flying. The catheters came out of Trouble's arm, and the bag of sim-blood burst all over Holly. Trouble obviously hadn't been on the sedatives for long enough, because his eyes flickered open. He saw the doctor, fleeing for the door, then he saw a girl lying on the floor, covered in blood. He decided that she was the better target, and rolled off the bed, landing on all fours above her.


Holly coughed. Sim-blood was dribbling down her throat, and it tasted disgusting. She hauled herself onto her elbows, only to be knocked flat by the weight of Trouble landing on top of her. There was no-one she knew staring back at her from those red eyes. The disease was working far too quickly. Two hours to get to this stage. At this rate, no-one in here would last beyond a week.

Whilst her mind was making this morbid observation, her body was responding to the threat of its own violation. She threw her arms in front of her face, blocking Trouble's mouth from coming any closer to her. He growled. For the first time in her life, Holly was actually scared of him. She pushed at him, and he moved back a little, but he was still pinning her to the floor. Holly swore loudly in three different languages. As soon as she got out of this predicament, she was going to kill that doctor. If she got out of this predicament. She couldn't move, and Trouble was again reaching for her. She reached blindly for her waist, hoping beyond hope that her buzz baton wasn't pinned the way she was. It wasn't. She pulled it free just as Trouble opened his mouth to sink his teeth into her outstretched left arm. She fired it up and buzzed him. His mouth closed around her forearm, but the charge did its job. He shook, then collapsed on top of Holly, unconscious.

She wriggled out from under him, panting. That, she thought, was perhaps the second scariest moment of her life, topped only by running for her life from a pack of trolls in the Temple of Artemis. She got to her feet, holding her arm where Trouble had tried to bite her. Medics came running in, sedative patches at the ready. Look, it's the cavalry thought Holly. Better late than never.

The medics tried to delay her at the hospital, but after she assured them several times that she hadn't been bitten and that she wasn't going to sue, they allowed her to leave. She pulled the three vials of blood from her pocket and examined them. True to their name, the containers were intact. She was going to kiss Foaly when she got back to the Ops Booth. She just hoped that it was going to be enough for Artemis to work with.

Well, she thought stubbornly, if he wants any more he can go and get it himself.


This chapter does have a purpose, I promise.
Skullduck: She's just saying that. Don't believe a word she says.
Me: Shouldn't you be promoting the story, instead of slandering me? You are the muse, remember. That makes you partially responsible for this.
Skullduck: Yeah, the good parts.
Me: *rolls eyes* Feel free to ignore him, I do. Please, review, even if it's just to say that I've spelt such-and-such wrong. It means a lot to me.
Skullduck: Us. It means a lot to us. And, as an added incentive, if you review then I won't find you and hurt you.
Me: That's not an incentive, that's a threat. And it's not nice.
Skullduck: Nice doesn't get reviews.
Me: Fair point. Ok, what he said stands.

Love you all really.
Liris and Skullduck
xxx